Friday, October 21, 2016

creamy mushroom and thyme linguine

Am I the only one who craves mushrooms and thyme regularly? Surely not. They are so delicious together! This is a pretty simple pasta dish. The only time-consuming part is prepping all the mushrooms. If you don't wanna do all that, you could just substitute pre-cleaned, pre-sliced ones. I like the variety of mushrooms, though... gives the dish a bit more flavor and depth than it would have with just one kind of mushroom. Also, I used whole-wheat linguine. I don't normally like whole wheat pastas, but they do go well with the right sauces. This sauce is earthy and creamy, and I thought it worked with the slightly nutty taste of the whole-wheat pasta.

Cook the linguine to al dente according to package instructions. reserve some of the cooking water, just in case. Drain, cool with water and set aside.

Heat the olive oil and butter in a large dutch oven or pot. Cook the shallots and half the garlic until translucent and just starting to brown. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring often until they have released all their liquid, then keep cooking until they are almost completely dry again... about 10-15 minutes. Add the thyme, rest of the garlic and white wine. Cook until all the wine is absorbed/evaporated, about 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the mushrooms and stir, cooking about 2-3 minutes. Pour in the milk, stirring and scraping the bottom until it comes to a boil. Turn off heat and stir in cheese and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Gently toss with pasta, check for seasoning again, and if it's too thick, stir in a splash of the pasta cooking water. Serve immediately. Makes like 6 dinner servings.